


The Terror Twins

by WhitePhoenix81



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Zuko (Avatar) Needs Therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29682477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhitePhoenix81/pseuds/WhitePhoenix81
Summary: Long ago the Fire Nation palace was at peace, and quiet. But, everything changed when the Terror Twins attacked. Not even the Avatar had any hope of stopping them.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

The Terror Twins

CHAPTER ONE

It was a day like any other day. 

It was a nice summer's day, a cool and gentle breeze was blowing past, on it's way over the horizon. All was silent. That's how they knew.

The palace guards stood, twitchy at their posts. Eyes scanning the surrounding area every couple of seconds. Everything seemed to be calm and in order. Even the clouds were lazing about in the sky, blocking part of the sun. Giving a nice amount of shade. 

On the north side of the palace stood a guard. The guard knew that he shouldn't let his attention waver, but it's so warm, and it's a nice day. And he's soooo sleepy.

BOOM!

The guard jumps, snapping out of his trance-like state, and spins around to find the guard tower that he had his back to, was on fire spewing smoke into the air. ‘Please don't fall, please don't fall.’ but as though the universe was laughing at him the wind began to pick up. With an audible sound of breaking wood the tower began to tilt and fall.

'Not again! We JUST finished building it! This is the last time, absolutely the last time they get away with this! This has been going on, for the last 6 YEARS!' The guard angrily thought to himself.

"GAAAAAAAAHHH!"

♤♤♤♤♤

"GAAAAAAAAHHH!"

"Ten gold pieces says that that was Clarence." Aleia says, turning to her twin brother, Namor.

"No bet," Namor says, chuckling. "You got your pack?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yep. I'm more than ready to get out of this purgatory Ozai calls home."

Aleia chuckles, right before she takes off running. "Last one to the ship licks Azula's toes!" Aleia calls out to her brother.

"Hey, not fair! You cheated!" Namor yells back, while running after Aleia.

Aleia and Namor quickly and quietly made their way to the docks, and slipped onto one of the cargo ships bound for the Earth Kingdom. This was easy for them, as they had done it more times than they got caught. Once situated below deck in the hold, and confident that no one was going to find them, they laid down and settled in for the long journey and took a nap.

"You do realize that you have to lick her toes now, don't you?" Aleia asks.

"You cheated. You took off, before I was ready." Namor says.

"Yeah, but you then tripped me. I landed on my face." Aleia shot back.

"So?" Namor mumbles.

"So? You know that using your bending is against the rules!" Aleia says heatedly. Turning towards Namor, only to find him snoring away.

♤♤♤♤♤

Back in the Fire Lord's palace, Azula is startled awake, by the explosion that took out the guard tower. And the scream of frustration that follows it.

'Note to self: set the twins on fire. Again.' Azula thought to herself as she made her daily mental to-do list.

Upon realizing what time it was, Azula gets out of bed to get ready for the day. 

'One more meeting until the invasion.' Azula said to herself whilst reaching down and cupping some water in her hands, and splashed cold water onto her face. “Towel!” Azula yelled, a servant approached who hesitated briefly before a warm towel was placed in her awaiting hands. With that, the servant that brought the towel excused herself and speed walked out not even wanting to wait and see the carnage that was about to ensue. Azula wiped her face clean before looking into the mirror.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

♤♤♤♤♤

An ear splitting, unholy screech splits the air.

Ozai lets out a tired sigh. 

"It's too early for this." Ozai said to no one in particular.

The Fire Lord continues eating his breakfast, so used to Azula's screaming, but not this early in the morning but alas, it really was too early to deal with whatever had happened this time. He just waited for his daughter to make her way to the breakfast table.

After about 15 minutes, Azula threw the door open with a face full of rage.

"FATHER!"

"Yes Azula?" Ozai says as he continues to try to enjoy his food for as long as he can.

"I HAVE HAD IT! I WANT THEM EXECUTED!"

Ozai finally looks up with a sigh, "And what exactly have they done this time?"

"THEY - THEY! THIS!" Azula screams as she pulls off the hat that she was wearing. To reveal BRIGHT, pink hair, that clashed horribly with her red outfit. 

Ozai lets out a sigh, "You," Ozai points to one of the guards, "go find them, and bring them to me." Ozai says, just as one of the other palace guards comes in.

"Fire Lord, I have news." The guard says.

"Yes?" Fire Lord Ozai quirys.

"The twins, they're gone Sir." The guard informed the Fire Lord and the princess.

"Gone? What do you mean, 'gone'?" Azula asked, in infuriated befuddlement.

"They're gone. They're not in the palace anymore." The guard says.

"WHAT?! THERE IS A GUARD POSTED TO WATCH THEM 24/7! HOW COULD THEY HAVE SLIPPED PAST HIM?!" Azula demands of the guard, in rage. 

"Look again." The Fire Lord commanded.

"Yes Fire Lord." The guard says, bows and makes his way out, all the while trying to think of someone to take the fall, for their escape.

♤♤♤♤♤

A week later, Clarence goes to meet with the Fire Lord, to update him on the search on the twins. The search was not made easy, what with the eclipse happening the day after they disappeared. And all the chaos that happened.

'They did this on purpose.' Clarence seeths. Then takes a deep calming breath before entering the throne room.

As Clarence enters the throne room, he sees Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Azula, discussing matters of state.

"Your majesties," Clarence begins, "you asked for me?"

The two royals look over, "We'll finish this later." Ozai says to Azula, "Yes. How is the search going?"

"Not well, your highness. We have looked all around and in the palace, top to bottom, four times. They're not here. They've left." Clarence informs them.

"WHAT!" Azula screams.

"They can't have just disappeared." Ozai says much quieter than his daughter, but no less angry.

"They have, your majesties. We believe that they had used the explosion on the guard tower as a diversion. So that they could slip away, unseen."

"They slipped past you!? I hired you to keep an eye on them! What do I even pay you for?!"

Clarence wisely keeps his silence.

"Seeing as they are no longer here, AND you can't do your job right in the first place, I am transferring you to Admiral Zhao's fleet! Maybe there you can be useful!" Ozai orders.

Clarence bows and leaves the throne room, all the while swearing vengeance on the Terror Twins. As most people call them. Not that they mind. They actually like the name. It gives people an ominous feeling, that plays well to their flare for the dramatic.

♤♤♤♤♤

About a week after they made their escape onto one of the cargo ships, the ship docked in the Earth Kingdom. As silently as they boarded the ship, they were gone. Just like Clarence's last nerve.  
♤♤♤♤♤

Zuko is making his way through the Earth Kingdom, trying to catch up to the Avatar and his friends, in the hopes of joining them, and teaching Aang fire bending. Four days after he arrives in the Earth Kingdom he receives a letter from a messenger hawk. Upon opening it, he finds that it is from a guard who was loyal to his mother and by extension him.

'Need to remember to thank him for all his help.' Zuko thinks to himself.

As Zuko reads the letter, his face gets paler the farther down the letter he gets.

"What! They're gone? What does he mean, 'they're gone'? Where could they have gone? Where would they even go?!" Zuko mutters to himself, as he begins to panic slightly. "This is not good."

♤♤♤♤♤

It's been a couple days, since Zuko has joined the team, and some, mainly Katara, are still tense.

The group is sitting around the campfire about to eat dinner, when Toph says, "Someones coming."

Everyone immediately jumps up, and into fighting stances. 

"Ten seconds." Toph whispers.

♤♤♤♤♤

It took Aleia and Namor, a little more than a week, after reaching the Earth Kingdom, to find and catch up to the Avatar. As they enter the air temple that the Avatar and his friends are using to camp at, they find them around the campfire, with dinner about to be served up.

They're all in fighting positions when they enter, as Toph had given them a heads up. 

Aleia and Namor smile and wave, and are just about to introduce themselves when there is this scream that rings through the air. They look over to find that Zuko had thrown himself behind Sokka, using him as a shield. Sokka stands there with a slightly bemused look on his face, as he steps to the side, revealing Zuko.

"Hi. I'm Aleia, and this is my twin brother Namor." Aleia introduces herself and her brother to the group.

"How did you find us, and what are you doing here?" Katara asks, while Zuko hides behind Suki.

"Well, it took us about a week to find you. And we are here, because we want to help you take down Ozai." Namor explains.

"But HOW, did you find us?" Aang asks.

"We can be quite charming and persuasive when we want to be." Aleia casually says, by way of answering. Completely sidestepping the question.

Zuko snorts. The twins look over at him, which causes him to duck down further behind Suki.

"Hey Zuko, long time no see, buddy." Namor grins at him.

Zuko whimpers.

"You know these two, Zuko?" Sokka asks.

"Unfortunately." Zuko says quietly, so as to minimize any of their attention on himself.

"How?"

"They've been tormenting everyone in the Fire Nation , for the last six YEARS." Zuko says, with a haunted look in his eyes.

Katara gets a thoughtful look on her face. She looks at the others. Zuko isn't paying attention to them, too focused on the Terror Twins.

Katara turns back the twins, "Welcome aboard."

"WHAT!" Zuko looks at Katara in horror. "You can't be serious!"

"Yes, I am. We need all the help we can get, plus, according to you, they have been tormenting Ozai and Azula for the last six years. They know when and where to push their buttons. We need that information, and their help. You want to train Aang, fine do that, but you need to realize that we are severely outnumbered. We need ALL the help we can get." Katara explains to Zuko and to everyone else.

"We don't want to be a burden." Aleia says.

"No, you're not. Please stay." Aang says.

Aleia and Namor look at each other and then at each of the people present. Before nodding, "Okay."

"Good. Now, we were just about to eat dinner, would you like some?" Katara asks.

"That would be great." Namor says, as both he and Aleia smile, and join the group around the campfire. 

Zuko reluctantly sits down across from them. And keeps one eye on them, at all times. While checking his food every couple of minutes, to make sure that they haven't sabotaged it.

It isn't until after dinner that Zuko speaks again.

"I'll work with them," Zuko says as he stands and points to the twins,"for now. But as soon as they do something, anything, to mess with me, I'm gone." Zuko says this with the most serious look on his face anyone has ever seen. Then he turns around and walks away.

"Let me show you to your rooms." Katara says.

Aleia and Namor quietly follow after her. Until they reach two rooms, that are across the hall from each other.

"You two can have these two rooms. Everyone else is just down this hall." Katara tells them, while pointing to the two rooms, and then down the hall to indicate which way everyone else is. "My room is the next door on the left."

"Thank you." Aleia says.

"You won't regret this. Promise." Namor says.

"Good. Well, good night." Katara says, with a smile. Then turns around and goes to her room.

"Good night." The twins call after her.

The twins turn to each other.

"This is going to be fun." Aleia and Namor say at the same time, with identical grins on their faces, as they look at each other. They then turn around and enter their new rooms, and get settled in before going to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

By lunch the next day, Aang and Sokka couldn't keep their curiosity to themselves any more.

"Okay, I have to ask. What happened?" Sokka bursts out asking.

"How did the three of you meet?" Aang asks a follow up question. 

They turn to Zuko, "I can't tell you. We don't speak of it." Zuko says seriously, with a grim look.

The twins glance at each other, grin, and look back at the group. "But we can."

"Sit back and enjoy."

"It's story time."

"It was six years ago, next Monday, when it happened."

♤♤♤♤♤

FLASHBACK

It was a nice sunny summer day. Everyone at the palace was enjoying themselves. Everyone was there to celebrate Azula's eighth birthday. Bringing her birthday presents, dancing, playing games.

Everyone was happy, until the twins attacked.

"Mom, Dad. Come on. I want to eat my cake." Azula loudly complained.

"Okay. Okay. Slow down Azula, you could get hurt." Her mother called out to her.

Just as the sun set Ozai and his wife made the announcement that it was time for cake. 

Everybody who came to the celebration, went as directed, to where the cake was, so that Azula could blow out the candles.

As everyone gathered, and the eight candles were lit by a quick burst of fire bending, everyone began to sing happy birthday to Azula.

But, what everyone had failed to notice, was that these "candles", were actually cleverly hidden fuses, inside of the candles. So while the tip burned, the inside was all hollowed out, so that the fuse could burn.

As the crowd sang, the fuse quickly burned down. Going through little tubes inside the cake, through the base, and into the cart it was all set on.

When the song ended, Azula took in a deep breath, and began to blow out the candles.

BOOM!

The cake exploded.

Covering everyone in its entrails.

Now when I say entrails, I mean ENTRAILS. Aleia and Namor had spent the hours after the cake was made, hollowing out the cake, and stuffing it with entrails from various animals. 

Everyone stood, horrified. Transfixed by the site that their Fire Lord made. As goop from the entrails and the cake slid down Ozai's face. As they watched, party blowers sound off. Streamers fell and unraveled themselves. 

This caused everyone to jump and/or scream.

But what the unsuspecting partygoers didn't know, was that the streamers were a distraction. For when the party blowers went off, a mild hallucinogen, in a powder form, dusted the entire party area. 

The hallucinogen wasn't so bad that people started killing each other. Nobody went on a killing spree.

However, it was strong enough for everyone to see things that would give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.

For example, where the beautiful and pristine cake sat just moments before, there was now a white rabbit.

The white rabbit had a waistcoat, a monocle, and a large pocket watch, to which it pointed to and said, "You're all very late. Must keep to a schedule." 

The rabbit then literally fell apart at the seams, then each piece got up and hopped away. Each in a different direction. 

Upon witnessing all this, Zuko starts to back away. He gets three and a half steps back, turns around and freezes. When he turned around, with one foot hanging in the air, he saw his uncle Iroh sitting down, having tea with a man who was wearing the biggest green top hat Zuko has ever seen. The man had white hair sticking out from under his hat, and a big bulbous nose. He also spoke with a lisp. Also at the table having tea, was a dormouse wearing a waistcoat, and a hare wearing a suit jacket.

Iroh looked up, and saw Zuko watching them. Iroh smiled and beckoned Zuko over, asking him to join them for tea.

Zuko slowly made his way over to them. When he got close enough, the hare picked up a teapot, and threw it at young Zuko's head, all the while yelling, "You're late for tea!"

Zuko yelped and ducked under the teapot, and sat down next to his Uncle. Putting Iroh between him and the hare. Zuko turned to Iroh to ask him what was going on, but before he could, Iroh had already turned to him and said, "Have some Jasmine Tea. It's my favorite." 

Zuko opened his mouth to say something. Anything. But he never got the chance, because his vision began to fade. He was out, before his head landed in his plate of tea cakes and sandwiches.

♤♤♤♤♤

The next morning, Prince Zuko woke. In his own bed. 

Looking around, in fear, Zuko half expected something to jump out of the shadows, and attack him. Perhaps the dormouse in the waist coat, to come and stick him with its needle like sword. Upon seeing nothing in his room that might attack him, he sighed and muttered under his breath, "Just a nightmare."

Trying to shake off the nightmare he had, he got up, and got ready for the day.

Making his way to his family's breakfast table, he saw two extra place settings had been made. He turned to his mother to inquire about it. Only to find that she was not there. Zuko turned to his father, hoping that maybe this time he would actually answer him.

But before he could get the chance to ask, his mother walked into the room. With two children of about 10 years of age, trailing after her. Clearing her throat to get all of their attention, she spoke.

"Husband, children. I would like to introduce all of you to Aleia, and Namor. They will be staying with us for the foreseeable future." She smiled kindly down at the two, and then gestured towards the table, where their place settings had been made.

Zuko nodded at them, and was about to turn back to his food, when he noticed some embroidery on the twins' shirt collars. 

Aleia had a white rabbit in a waistcoat, wearing a monocle, and holding a big pocket watch stitched into her collar. While Namor had a big green top hat, a teacup on top of it, with a dormouse laid in the teacup, with its front paws behind its head, in the classic relaxation pose. Looking like the mouse was using the teacup as a jacuzzi.

Zuko snapped his eyes back up to them. They were both looking Zuko directly in the eyes. Zuko's eyes widened in fear. Aleia and Namor looked back at him, and a corner of their lips barely lifted up in twin smirks. With mischief twinkling in their eyes, Namor nodded at Zuko, while Aleia winked conspiratorially.

It was that moment that Zuko realized that the supposed 'nightmare' he had last night, was in fact real.

He made a solemn vow that day. To never, under pain of death, to ever speak of that day to another living soul.

END FLASHBACK

♤♤♤♤♤

"And that is the glorious tale of how we met Zuko and his family." Namor said grandly.

The others looked at Namor and Aleia in horror.

It was quiet. None knowing or wanting to break the silence and be the first one to speak.

"I'm just glad that was the worst that it got." Zuko said into his rice bowl.

"What?" Aleia said while looking at Namor in confusion.

"That was the worst that it got?" Namor turned to Aleia in horror.

"But, if that's true, then, that means that it didn't go off."

"That means that it's still there."

Aleia and Namor say. Having a conversation between them two. 

Zuko meanwhile, just looks at them in confusion, that slowly morphs into dawning horror.

Nothing more is said, for that is when, Azula made her appearance.


End file.
